Smart energy Smart Africa


I have been waiting for Jeremy Rifkin to get with the African program.  It was only a matter of time.  For those of you who don't know, he is the guy who wrote ‘ The Third Industrial Revolution’ (http://thethirdindustrialrevolution.com/) which is the story of the convergence of the communication and energy revolutions.  In it he talks of the rapidly emerging trend of local power generation and the sharing of that power laterally across the grid analogously to WiFi sharing between adjacent WiFi networks.   This is very powerful because it obviates the need for large capital projects for power generation – which have the downsides of : long lead times, centralised monolithic infrastructure, large expensive and wasteful distribution networks - all well illustrated by the current Eskom debacle.

It is not widely known that only about 15% of Africans have access to power.  Millions of African children are forced to read by the light of a kerosene lamp.  The consequences of exposure to the smoke and dangers of fire represent a real barrier to development.   Education is going to be one of the saviours of the Continent and until children have access to decent lighting their education will be stifled.   There are many programs such as SolarAid (http://www.solar-aid.org) which provide solar powered lamps that can start to address this shortfall.   2015 is the UNSECO International year of light and there is no better time for the World to get involved  (https://speedoflight.io/)

Rifkin has been talking at the African CEO conference in Geneva about Africa’s time  “Today is the moment for Africa. You have an opportunity to take advantage from this revolution & create a digital smart Africa”.    The benefits of a powered and connected Africa are manifold.    To quote from the book “ The story line begins with an understanding that the great economic transformations in history occur when communication technology converges with new energy systems. ”

Africa will now be able to leapfrog two technologies at the same time.  Skip the industrial revolution and the large centralised power generation model by adopting distributed generation – making buildings micro power plants through renewables esp.  PV and leveraging Internet like technologies to allow sharing of power.  

At the same time use the newly laid submarine cables around the continent to deliver the Internet into newly built data centres across Africa.  These data centres become the hubs / platforms on which digital products and services can be delivered to millions of Africans.   Currently less than 15% of Africans have broadband access and that is mainly in the cities.   These data centres will be powered by renewables exemplifying the model proposed.  

By targeting an Internet penetration of over 80% over the next 10 years Africa will start to participate in the World economy on equal terms.  The opportunities are exciting and the prospects for sustainable economic growth (in a low carbon economy) are good.  Time for bold ideas and imagination to drive this process.   

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